A lot of Liverpool's architecture was functional, with decorative embellishments to represent power and wealth. Their are exceptions, the Dock Office is one and the towers on the Liver Buildings. Take off the towers and the building looks like functional buildings seen on NY & Chicago at the time.
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The Cunard Building was pretty functional as was the India Buildings - although the architect had a sense of humour and put a Roman villa on the roof. St. George's Hall was a 100% functional building, however copied Greek classical designs as a statement of the city's wealth.
Tall, large, grand looking buildings have and always will be used as an outward means of displaying wealth or a go-ahead image - and a form of corporate advertising. The buildings may give the impression a company was richer than it was. Banks and insurance buildings wanted to display solidity, so tended to build strong traditional looking buildings - hence the plethora of oldish looking buildings in Liverpool.
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